The 8.9 Earthquake Heard 'Round the World

On Friday, March 11th at approximately 2:50pm, an 8.9 earthquake shook our world here in Japan. The epicenter was near Sendai in the Miyagi prefecture located in the northeast part of Japan, but the entire country was affected, especially the Tohoku region. The following is my account of events from Takko-Machi in the Aomori prefecture.


As with most Friday afternoons, I was sitting at my desk at the Garlic Center. I was finished with my responsibilities for the week, and I was running through everything I had to do at home in preparation for my sister to arrive the next day. As always, I had left everything to the last minute. I needed to do laundry, mop, vacuum, do dishes, straighten up, etc, etc! I was chatting online with Ululani about how slow Friday afternoons can be when the town's PA system sounded an alarm I had never heard before: ding dong, ding dong, jishin desu jishin desu! I looked over at Makiko sitting across from me and before I could finish asking, "What is that for?", the building lurched in one direction and threw itself back in the other. After five seconds of shaking, it had grown so violent that I knew this wasn't just another earthquake. In all my years of earthquake drills at school, my instinct was to jump underneath my desk and cover my neck, so I did. But as the shaking continued, I felt even less safe under my huge metal desk. I popped my head out from under and watched the room shake around me, the lights above us flicker and then go out. I felt my eyes well up with tears, bent my head down and said, "Why won't it stop"?! About a minute and a half later, the shaking finally subdued enough for us to run downstairs. I grabbed my phone and jacket, and ran down as fast as I could, still covering my neck. The garlic bulb lights in the front entry way were still swaying, as were the stuffed garlic toys hanging in the front window. We hadn't been outside for more than a minute before the first aftershock came, knocking us from balance and roaring through the town.

Unfortunately, the first aftershock wouldn't be the last. For the next two hours, the ground beneath us continued to shake shake shake every few minutes, and we're not talking small tremors here. Someone suggested that I go check on the apartment, which is infamous for being pushed around by a strong wind. As Yasuyo and I approached the apartment, I joked that I was glad to see it still standing...joking, but also impressed. A few things had fallen from their spots atop my TV, dresser, desk, etc. The most devastating damage was my fruit basket (normally filled with snacks from America) that was hanging from the ceiling and had fallen to the ground. *Sigh* I surveyed the apartment quickly, and left, not wanting to be in there if another aftershock were to come. The town PA system came on several times, warning us to be careful and for parents to pick their children up from school. Teachers and principals guided most of them into town to make sure they were picked up or in sight of other adults. For the most part, I was distracted, but I couldn't help but notice how much everyone was taking care of each other.

My phone almost immediately lost service, but Nana was able to call in to my phone one last time before it completely gave out. We discussed the possibility of me being able to meet Julia in Tokyo the following day. At the time, I had no idea of the severity of the earthquake in Sendai, but I knew Shinkansens wouldn't be running that afternoon and figured they may be running the following morning. After we hung up, though, news images on the car's TV of the tsunami taking out everything in its path as it crashed into the city of Sendai made all of our stomachs sink. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I tried to stay positive that Julia would be able to come out and that we'd be seeing our trip through, but as the news went on and on about the rising damage and continued aftershocks, it seemed less and less certain. As everyone began packing to head home, I went into a silent panic. Would I have to stay at my apartment alone tonight? I was desperately trying to get a hold of Joel, the other foreigner in town to see if he wanted to buddy up tonight and battle the aftershocks together (which at this point were happening every 10 minutes or so), but the cell phones were completely down at this point. Just as I thought I was going to have to brave the long, cold night of quakes alone, Yasuyo had me in her car and on our way to the apartment to pack an overnight bag. It was dark inside, as it was past 5pm, and it's funny what you throw in an overnight pack when you're terrified of being thrown around by another earthquake. I managed sweatpants, a work sweater, and my toothbrush (I ended up sleeping in exactly what I was wearing...too afraid to leave the room and change in the dark).

Before heading off to Yasuyo's, we stopped by Yakuba to let everyone know I was okay. Of course, the place was a mad house, as it was the only spot in town with power (due to a handy dandy generator). The people in my division were all glued to the TV in the corner, and my supervisor looked beyond relieved to see me standing and well. I tried calling home from my desk phone, thinking this may be the last time to call them for a while. We confirmed that Julia's trip was canceled; Narita Airport was completely shut down.

Although the power was out, you wouldn't know it being at Yasuyo's! Her family had a portable gas heater that didn't need electricity, and they managed to keep the kotatsu (this nifty heated table that Japanese go nuts over) warm despite the lack of power. Dinner was cooked all on the stove and was delicious: miso ramen and garlic rice. Yum. After setting up our futons with about seven blankets for each, we went to bed early. I was shocked at how exhausted I was, and as I tried to sleep through the "aftershocks" (I put quotations because they continued to be much larger than anything I've ever felt before), I thought about how surreal everything still felt.

We woke the next morning to no power. Yasuyo was scheduled to work, and I needed to call home so we headed into town. Garlic Center was, of course, closed, so we headed over to Yakuba so I could check in and make my phone call. During the night, however, the generator ran out of battery and Yakuba was without power. My cell phone was still out of service, but Yasuyo's allowed us to check facebook and send messages to loved ones. I was able to get emails and messages out to my sister, Mom, and Patrick before we headed back into town where cell service was unavailable. With nothing much else to do, we sat at home listening to the radio and sleeping. Despite having napped all day, I was still tired at night (being tired seems to have become a recurring theme in my everyday life) and we went to bed early.

Dinner with friends...
no earthquakes allowed!

Aftershocks continued to wake us throughout the night, but we woke up to a wonderful surprise. Denki (electricity) had returned! I grabbed my phone, hoping that cell service had returned as well, but it had not. At least, not quite yet. We headed into town, delighted to see that the power was back on everywhere. Next, we needed Internet. I checked in with the Garlic Center, and then headed to the apartment to see if I'd have luck with getting online. Yatta! The Internet gods were good to me. I skyped and facebooked for a few hours, checking in with everyone and reporting the good news that I was okay. Throughout all of this, I was hoping that I'd get the chance to talk to my Patrick, because from lack of emails from him, I figured he still wasn't allowed to use his phone or laptop yet. But then low and behold, his name signed online! I dialed him up and was greeted with a, "Hey, what's up"? What's up? What's UP? I'll tell you what's up...his class had been on complete lockdown at OCS the entire week and he had no idea that an earthquake had even happened! It was difficult finding a way to explain it all, but I managed after calming down a bit. We ended our conversation with me asking him to promise to ask to call the next day. After my hours online, I headed to Joels', the other gaijin in town, house for dinner. Saki, one of my favorite kids here in town, was there too and for a few hours, we talked about anything and everything uninterrupted by any aftershocks. That night, I spent the first night alone at the apartment since the big earthquake hit. We had one aftershock that I felt before drifting off to sleep, and if we had any more, I didn't feel them.

The next morning being Monday meant time to go to work! This may come as a shock to all you Americans, thinking that we all went back to work after a huge disaster like this. But such is the way of life in Japan. I wouldn't know what else I'd be doing if we didn't have work; I relished in the fact that I'd be around people all day long. I turned on the computer and wasn't shocked at the crazy amount of emails, comments, messages, etc. that greeted me. I got right to work updating my friends and the people in Gilroy (not to say you all aren't one and the same!). I knew people were eager to hear from us, and I didn't want anyone worrying more than they had to, so I made some phone calls to reporters, threw some updates up on the Takko facebook page, and hoped that it would reach everyone it needed to. Whew.

Since then, it's been business as usual for the most part. Here is the situation as of now and my personal situation because of it:

They reported that we may expect another large earthquake sometime in the near future. Of course there is no real way of knowing when of if they could even happen, but it's keeping everyone on edge. Because of that, I've decided to stay with the Chiba family. Nothing would be scarier to me than to be in that apartment alone during another earthquake like that on Friday afternoon. I am forever grateful for their hospitality!

Gas, oil, and food supplies are slowly dwindling here in town. The gas is in short supply because many of our gas and oil suppliers are on the coastline located in cities that were greatly affected by the tsunami. Because gas is hard to come by, it's difficult to transport anything, including food! Many people are offering to send food, which is really very sweet, but the mail relies on transporting to get here sooo...we're stuck. But okay! I promise. I went to the Takko store and there was plenty of food...just no bread or cup of noodle, which just means no ramen or toast for me for a while. What will I do with all that peanut butter...?

The shinkansen, my beloved bullet train, is down for an undetermined amount of time at this point. I'm not sure what kind of damage the tracks themselves have but the Sendai station, one of the biggest stations in the Tohoku line is nearly destroyed. I'm hearing that it'll be okay and that it won't be okay...but it's been less than a week since the big quake, so there's no way of knowing now. The only way to Tokyo is by plane at this point.

The Fukushima power plant crisis. There are no words because too many have already been said. This is probably the biggest point of conversation regarding all of this and it's exhausting. American news is portraying it as being VERY bad, while Japanese news is telling us that it should be okay. I think both sides are at fault here for either leaving information out or blowing it out of proportion, but since no one in Takko is freaking out over it, neither am I. In reality, we really are too far from the plant for it to cause any real harm. So Californians, stop buying those damn iodine pills. You're 5,000 miles away. You'll be fine.

We just got some spring snow last night, so we're crossing our fingers that kerosene comes soon! In the meantime, we'll be fine with the wood stoves and electric blankets. No need to worry! We'll be warm. I'm greatly concerned for our Japanese brothers and sisters on the coastline that are all dealing with the tsunami aftermath. As scary as this earthquake was, nothing compares to the videos and images we see of the tsunami tearing through cities and towns. The death toll is inconceivable, now in the tens of thousands. Despite the rising numbers of people missing and/or dying, small glimmers of hope can be found in stories of miracles. However, the Japanese people have this amazing sense of resilience about them, and nothing seems to get them down. With the community always coming first, neighbors and strangers alike are helping each other during this extremely difficult time.

I'll continue to keep everyone updated as this amazing country that I've come to call home rebuilds itself. I'm finding that I need to remove myself from the media every once and a while because it becomes simply overwhelming.


The following is a video posted on the Discovery website showing the before and after shocks of the now infamous 8.9 earthquake that hit Japan on March 11th. It's an excellent representation showing how busy the Pacific plate has been this past week.